LONG-term Asian patients in Sandwell are easing pressure on NHS services thanks to a unique course delivered to them in Punjabi.

The course, the first of its kind in the country, helps the patients to learn more about their own health needs so they can manage them more efficiently.

It was launched after evidence suggested that the south Asian community was more likely to suffer health inequalities and have difficulties in accessing services.

Seventeen women who have been attending the course at the Victoria Women's Centre, Suffrage Street, Smethwick, for the last four weeks include six potential tutors who will have the skills to pass on what they have learned within their own communities.

Rozina Qamar, a course organiser from the Sandwell South Asian Targeted Health Initiative (SSATHI) explained: "The course is designed to help people with long term illnesses regain as much control over their physical and emotional well-being as possible.

"There is a strong emphasis on participants setting practical and achievable goals and this empowers them to be more informed and better able to develop partnerships with their doctor.

"From this one course we hope for six new tutors, all of who have long-term chronic health conditions themselves so are arguably best placed to deliver education to their own communities. The long-term aim of the SSATHI programme is to make self-management an integral part of the community through involvement of local people."

Anyone interested in leaning more about the Expert Patient programme for the South Asian Community can contact Rozina Qamar on 0121 533 2142.